Pitch to Overland

2016 housekeeping

The online magazine will be winding up publication for 2016 on 16 December, and will start publishing again from 10 January 2017. If you’re thinking of pitching or writing something for us during that period, listed below are some topics that seem worth investigating.

Note: As of January 2017, we will be paying $100 for online articles.

What we’re after

Overland is always looking for nonfiction pieces, especially for its online magazine. We update the pitch page with subjects that seem interesting – though we consider pitches on any topics. Most of all, we’re looking for thoughtful, provocative and argumentative articles, pieces that will provoke discussion and debate. You can pitch to us on one of the topics below, or submit completed articles (of between 600 and 1000 words) to us via our submissions page.

Politics and the environment

#NoDAPL, #NoAdani?

Indian power giant Adani has just been green-lighted to begin construction on what is slated to be Australia’s largest coalmine. If completed, the Carmichael mine will dig coal from the Galilee Basin in Central QLD, from the country of the Wangan and Jagalingou peoples. Meanwhile this week the Dakota Access Pipeline was denied a key permit to complete construction under the Missouri river, in response to months of sustained, Indigenous-led protest. What lessons are there from the #NoDAPL movement for the resistors to Adani? And what hope?

Culture

Wake up Mr West?

Kanye West has become a notorious and polarising musician. Fans stand by his talent and the political incursions that made him (in)famous. But his eccentricities and contradictions encourage many others to write him off as un-serious and worse. (Not to mention a particularly famous, married-into family.) West himself reads racism into the scepticism that haunts him. What are the politics of writing Kanye off?

The future

The end of civilisation has long been a Western obsession (or fantasy?). But as the climate spirals into global crisis and Donald Trump prepares for his presidential inauguration, the threat of the end seems to have become more tangible. Or at least, a more appropriate throw-away line in conversation. Is the threat real? Or a cover for a political despair that we don’t want to face? Think: film, art, protest, gaming and the internet, relationships.

What are you LinkedIn to?

LinkedIn is a social networking site that allows users to publicly share resumes and professional accomplishments. But, as with all social media, once under the microscope, the connections and contradictions the site fosters are … strange.

How to pitch to us

If you want to pitch an article, we ask you to do so through our online submission system. Overland relies on its subscribers for support: subscribers should use this link to pitch; non-subscribers should use this one.

The submission system will ask you to explain your proposed article in around 100 words and should address the following: What will your piece be about and why are you the person to write it? How will your article be different from other writing on the subject? When will you be able to send the finished piece?

Make sure that your deadline is realistic – if we accept your pitch, we are committing to publishing the article only so long as we receive publishable copy by the specified time and date.

If you can provide links to examples of your writing (whether in other publications or on your own site), please do so.

Please note that we are winding down publication for the year now, so are looking for pieces to come in from around 10 January 2017.